The companies said this week that they will intervene in a lawsuit filed by the Environmental Defense Fund against the administration, which is planning to roll back national pollution and gas mileage standards enacted while Barack Obama was president.
The group calls itself the “Coalition or Sustainable Automotive Regulation” and includes Aston-Martin, Ferrari, Hyundai, Isuzu, Kia, McLaren, Maserati, Nissan, Subaru and Suzuki.
“With our industry facing the possibility of multiple, overlapping and inconsistent standards that drive up costs and penalize consumers, we had an obligation to intervene,” said John Bozzella, CEO of Global Automakers and spokesman for the coalition.
The move puts the automakers at odds with four other companies — BMW, Ford, Volkswagen and Honda — which have decided to back California and endorse stricter emissions and fuel economy standards than President Donald Trump has proposed.
Although the coalition opposes California’s right to set standards, it still wants Trump and the state to compromise on one national regulation. Trump has proposed freezing the Obama-era standards at 2021 levels.
GM, Fiat Chrysler and Toyota make more money off larger, less-efficient vehicles than most of their competitors, said Alan Baum, a Detroit-area consultant who does work for the auto industry and environmental groups.
The move came after Ford, BMW, Honda and Volkswagen signed a deal with the California Air Resources Board, the state’s air pollution regulator, which had been at odds with the Trump administration for months.
Under the Obama administration requirements, the fleet of new vehicles would have to average 30 mpg in real-world driving by 2021, rising to 36 mpg in 2025. Currently the standard is 26 mpg.
The Trump administration contends that freezing the fuel economy standards will reduce the average sticker price of new vehicles by about $2,700 by 2025, though that predicted savings is disputed by environmental groups. The administration figures also are more than double Environmental Protection Agency estimates from the Obama administration.
But a study released by Consumer Reports in August found that the owner of a 2026 vehicle will pay over $3,300 more for gasoline during the life of a vehicle if the standards are frozen at 2021 levels.
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